Overview

TanStack Charts is a small, framework-agnostic chart grammar for TypeScript and JavaScript. Give each mark its natural data, map fields or accessors to visual channels, and supply the D3 scales that define the meaning of each axis. TanStack Charts compiles that declaration into a responsive, keyed scene and renders accessible SVG by default, with Canvas available as an opt-in surface.

TanStack Charts builds on the grammar-of-graphics tradition established by Leland Wilkinson and developed through projects such as ggplot2, Vega-Lite, and Observable Plot. Observable Plot is the closest API influence for mark-local data, channels, and layered composition. TanStack Charts applies those ideas to typed application infrastructure with explicit D3 primitives, responsive scene compilation, and framework lifecycle.

The library is designed for two equally important authors:

• People should get polished, responsive charts from a short declaration.
• AI should be able to compose, inspect, and modify charts without learning an application-specific series model or guessing at hidden behavior.

The same definition works with the vanilla DOM host and every framework adapter. React and Octane also provide optional Canvas entries.

A chart is a composition#

import { scaleLinear, scaleUtc } from 'd3-scale'
import { areaY, defineChart, lineY, ruleY } from '@tanstack/charts'

const rows = [
  { id: 'jan', date: new Date('2026-01-01T00:00:00Z'), actual: 42, target: 38 },
  { id: 'feb', date: new Date('2026-02-01T00:00:00Z'), actual: 31, target: 35 },
  { id: 'mar', date: new Date('2026-03-01T00:00:00Z'), actual: 48, target: 44 },
  { id: 'apr', date: new Date('2026-04-01T00:00:00Z'), actual: 39, target: 46 },
]

const performanceChart = defineChart({
  marks: [
    ruleY([40], { stroke: '#94a3b8', strokeOpacity: 0.7 }),
    areaY(rows, {
      x: 'date',
      y1: 'target',
      y2: 'actual',
      key: 'id',
      fill: '#2563eb',
      fillOpacity: 0.18,
    }),
    lineY(rows, {
      x: 'date',
      y: 'actual',
      key: 'id',
      stroke: '#2563eb',
    }),
  ],
  x: {
    scale: scaleUtc,
    nice: true,
    label: 'Month',
  },
  y: {
    scale: scaleLinear().domain([0, 50]).nice(),
    label: 'Score',
    grid: true,
  },
})

The direct d3-scale imports in this example are application dependencies. Install d3-scale and @types/d3-scale alongside TanStack Charts. Installation lists the exact packages, and Scales and D3 explains the ownership boundary.

What TanStack Charts owns#

TanStack Charts owns the parts that make a declarative chart reliable inside an application:

• A grammar of typed marks, channels, scales, guides, and layers
• Container-responsive pixel ranges and automatic guide margins
• A renderer-neutral scene with stable keys
• Default SVG rendering, keyed DOM reconciliation, optional Canvas painting, and interruptible animation
• Pointer and keyboard focus, selection callbacks, and native tooltips
• Framework-agnostic runtime state with thin framework adapters
• Light and dark mode defaults based on inherited color and CSS variables
• Public extension points for custom marks, focus strategies, spatial indexes, and renderers

What stays outside the library#

TanStack Charts deliberately does not hide data or spatial algorithms behind a second abstraction.

This division keeps the core small and makes advanced work explicit. Prepared data can come from D3, SQL, a server, or ordinary TypeScript; marks consume it without requiring a special series container.

Defaults for the common case#

The normal path is intentionally short:

• Omit width to follow the chart container.
• Omit margin to measure axes, tick labels, rotation, and titles automatically.
• Supply ariaLabel; keyboard focus is enabled by default.
• Add tooltip: true to the definition when a native value tooltip is enough.
• Use stable key channels for rows that can move, enter, or leave.
• Let field names, datum types, scales, interaction points, and adapters infer without casts.
• Use inherited currentColor and the --ts-chart-* CSS variables for automatic theme integration.

Every automatic behavior has an explicit escape hatch. The Guides cover those controls by task rather than repeating the API reference.

Packages#

All packages are ESM and tree-shakeable. Built-in marks and optional capabilities also have subpath exports when a library or design system needs tighter bundle boundaries.

Where to go next#

• Compare Libraries — evaluate Chart.js, Apache ECharts, Recharts, Observable Plot, and TanStack Charts against the pinned evidence.
• Installation — install the core, an adapter, and only the D3 modules your charts import.
• Quick Start — define, mount, update, and destroy a responsive chart.
• Grammar of Graphics — understand how data, marks, channels, scales, and layers fit together.
• Choosing a Chart — start from the analytical question.
• Example Gallery — browse complete, embeddable compositions.
• Migrating — preserve semantics and establish parity before removing an existing renderer.
• AI Authoring — give an agent the smallest reliable path from intent to verified output.